The major goal of fostering professional learning is to help educators acquire the information and abilities needed to provide students with more meaningful possibilities once they graduate. Examining the data on student accomplishment is the first step in designing effective professional learning development that aids in defining the educational requirements of pupils and identifying the information and abilities needed to meet those needs (Park et al., 2019). A teacher’s better professional practice is the result of their professional learning. The long-term objectives of professional practice are primarily focused on raising student accomplishment goals. The data-driven student learning requirements, the supporting data for the identified student needs, and the adult learning requirements should all be recognized via an active professional development system.
Teachers have considered professional development to be the ideal solution. The five crucial stages of education, which are prior knowledge, new material, challenging feedback, and repetition, should be used to assess the subjects for competent learning. The professors can promote professional development initiatives at their institution (Karlberg & Bezzina, 2022). The gathering and examination of crucial criteria are required for practical topic evaluation. A thorough inspection should not be difficult but requires careful planning. The subjects should be able to test ethical questions and understand how to obtain the right responses. The evaluation offers useful data that instructors may utilize to decide responsibly on the outcomes of professional learning development.
Therefore, since there are fewer time and space restrictions online, many educators have opted to use professional learning networks (PLNs) to further their careers alongside colleagues. The understanding of teaching as a complex activity carried out by experts with cognitive, social, emotional, and identity demands is reflected in a whole teacher’s viewpoint (McPherson et al., 2021). In other words, similar to students, instructors are full people, not just a collection of traits that may be addressed in different places. Teachers might benefit from wide, comprehensive, and adaptable networks as they traverse altering professional settings if they are to improve their practice continuously (Liang-feng & Yuan, 2022). Extensive PLNs’ ability to react to educators’ different interests and needs at any time and from anywhere seems to present opportunities for fostering the professional development of full teachers.
PLNs may be viewed as educational systems constructed on a participation-based design that might emerge with or without particular aims. These systems see studying as continual adaptations by which systems preserve their coherences under dynamic settings. Individual agents participate in these networks in transactional ways, ranging from devoted involvement to more oblique lurking (Prenger et al., 2021). Put another way, individuals alter a system as they engage with it, and the system changes them. Teachers may have access to the interactions and resources they need to advance professionally, thanks to PLNs’ responsive design.
With a varied network of people and resources, PLNs provide new platforms for professionals to learn and develop as specialists. Professionals can interact with people beyond their face-to-face networks, get assistance when needed, and gather professional information anytime, anywhere, thanks to recent technological advancements and widespread Internet access. Digital technologies like social media platforms allow users to interact and engage with others. Each of these names designates a certain method of social interaction. A PLN is a larger, more complex system that frequently consists of several communities, practice networks, and websites supporting online and offline learning (Mhlanga et al., 2022). Researchers have yet to investigate PLNs as intricate networks of individuals, resources, and technological resources. However, PLNs aid teacher development in the vibrant, social, intellectual, and identity domains, and as a result of PLNs, almost all participants said they changed their teaching methods.
Finally, technology impacts all theoretical ideas by supplying skills and innovative teaching methods. Every new theory or notion that is put out deserves careful consideration as it might aid pupils in learning more effectively (Duke et al., 2019). When dealing with a diverse population, it is vital to use various teaching methods. Through a range of networks, connectivism provides that diversity, enabling younger generations to work together to discover answers to an ever-growing number of problems.
References
Duke, B., Harper, G., & Johnston, M. (2013). Connectivism as a digital age learning theory. The International HETL Review, 2013(Special Issue), 4-13.
Karlberg, M., & Bezzina, C. (2022). The professional development needs of beginning and experienced teachers in four municipalities in Sweden. Professional Development in Education, 48(4), 624-641.
Liang-feng, D., & Yuan, L. (2022). Design of performance evaluation algorithm for diversified talent training in modern universities considering innovative thinking. Mobile Information Systems, 2022.
Liang-feng, D., & Yuan, L. (2022). Design of performance evaluation algorithm for diversified talent training in modern universities considering innovative thinking. Mobile Information Systems, 2022.
McPherson, F. M., Smith-Lovin, L., & Cook, J. M. (2021). Birds of a Feather. Personal Networks: Classic Readings and New Directions in Egocentric Analysis, 51, 444.
Mhlanga, D., Denhere, V., & Moloi, T. (2022). COVID-19 and the Key Digital Transformation Lessons for Higher Education Institutions in South Africa. Education Sciences, 12(7), 464.
Park, J. H., Lee, I. H., & Cooc, N. (2019). The role of school-level mechanisms: How principal support, professional learning communities, collective responsibility, and group-level teacher expectations affect student achievement. Educational Administration Quarterly, 55(5), 742-780.
Prenger, R., Poortman, C. L., & Handelzalts, A. (2021). Professional learning networks: From teacher learning to school improvement? Journal of Educational Change, 22(1), 13-52.